


The blossoms we wear in our hats are the growth of two thousand years

by tigriswolf



Series: comment_fic drabbles [51]
Category: Highlander, Highlander: The Series
Genre: Alternate Universe: Canon, Gen, false identities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-12
Updated: 2012-03-12
Packaged: 2017-11-01 20:43:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/361048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Methos?" Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod whispers in shock.</p><p>Adam Pierson nods his head and offers a beer.</p><p>[Adam Pierson is not and never has been Methos; he just couldn't resist pretending he was.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	The blossoms we wear in our hats are the growth of two thousand years

**Author's Note:**

> Title: The blossoms we wear in our hats are the growth of two thousand years  
> Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Whitman  
> Warnings: AU; mentions of violence and character death  
> Pairings: none  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 655  
> Point of view: third  
> Prompt: Highlander, Adam Pierson/Methos + MacLeod, Adam is a young immortal who just couldn't resist nodding when Mac asked if he was Methos

Adam Pierson is not his name. Of course it's not. He was nameless when Dad found him, and Dad told him to go with whatever name he felt like that day.

Ten years after that, when he was maybe twenty-five, he died in a fortuitous accident. A few months after that, he enrolled at Oxford and then joined the Watchers as a researcher, assigned to Methos.

Oh, but that was a laugh.

.

Adam Pierson is friendly but quiet, affable and determined. He has no enemies and many acquaintances who would call themselves his friends. He's an only child and an orphan.

Every week, he writes a letter addressed to Mattie Pater. He never receives a letter in return, but that doesn't matter.

The week he meets Duncan MacLeod, though, there is no letter sent out.

.

"Methos?" Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod whispers in shock.

Adam Pierson nods his head and offers a beer.

.

Adam Pierson is not much of a fighter, really. And while the boy he used to be learned quite the bag of dirty tricks, it's not enough to survive Kalas. He runs straight to MacLeod, pretending to have forgotten how to fight, since it'd been so long since his last head.

MacLeod is honorable, and Adam Pierson plays him like a fiddle. MacLeod kills Kalas for him, and becomes the closest thing to a friend he has, and soon enough more people know that Adam Pierson is not only an immortal – he's Methos, the oldest immortal.

A year after meeting MacLeod, Adam Pierson sends out his next letter to Mattie Pater.

 _I may have done something stupid_ , he confesses. _I may or may not have claimed to be you. And… well, I may be in over my head._

He chews on the end of the pen for a moment before sighing.

 _I may lose my head_ , he writes.

There is no return letter.

.

Another immortal claiming to be Methos shows up, preaching peace and understanding and pacifism. What a crock of shit.

The other false Methos dies, of course. And after Adam Pierson leaves MacLeod and Joe and Richie, all at the bar and regretful, he walks for a long time.

There is no presence to announce him, but Adam knows he's there, and he turns, soaked from the rain, to say, "Hi, Dad."

"Kid," Dad says, releasing his quickening like a quick, warm embrace. Adam sighs, slumping against him. "You did a stupid thing, you know."

"Yeah," he mutters, resting his head on Dad's shoulder. "I know."

.

Methos is much older than anyone believes. He can pass as a human because he suppresses his quickening completely. No immortal can feel a buzz, even if they're standing next to him. Even when he loses his temper, or in the throes of ecstasy – he maintains complete control.

Methos has had only a dozen students in all the millennia he's lived. One of them went by Kronos for a time. Another was Rebecca. He has had no student in modern times, and none of his students ever knew to call him Methos.

Well. Until he found that snotty brat starving on the street.

.

Kronos had been Pestilence, Silas War, Caspian Famine, and Methos Death.

Adam Pierson was not Methos, so he never rode a pale horse.

Kronos follows rumors of Methos to Duncan MacLeod, and when he attempts to strike at the fool daring to use his brother's name, he is executed so neatly and quickly he never even notices his killer.

Methos has no brothers. And even though Kronos had once been his student, Kronos was never his son.

.

Adam Pierson kept up his pretense for almost a decade, channeling his dad whenever he needed to sound _old_ and wise. But finally, MacLeod's preaching became too bothersome, and Joe began vocally doubting his story, and he could tell that MacLeod saw Richie whenever he looked Adam's way.

So Adam Pierson arranged a messy accident and died.

.

"Next time someone asks you if you're Methos, what will you say?" Dad inquires with a raised eyebrow.

Bobby Malton pouts at him. "I'll say no," he mutters.

Dad grins. "Good boy."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Fanmix: Primordial](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2698001) by [gigglingkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gigglingkat/pseuds/gigglingkat)




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